Good morning and welcome in everybody. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.
What kind of suffering would you go through in order to save somebody that you cared about? What kind of injustices would you put up with, in order to show others the goodness and mercy of God? What kind of pain would you endure in order to bring people to a place of repentance?
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
The Lord Jesus wins us to Himself by suffering for our misdeeds on the cross, and for those who truly want to win their spouse to Christ, you will have to go through the same types of things. You might have to deal with episodes of adultery, lying, substance abuse, or other painful situations that will bring you a lot of grief, but in order to be faithful to the gospel of Christ, we must get through them all, just as Jesus endured the pain on the cross, for all of the sinful things that we did unto Him.
1 Corinthians 7:16 (KJB) For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?
A lot of people in the world want to be loved, but in any relationship, especially a marriage, in order to love others there will be many times that you are going to have to learn to put up with and deal with painful circumstances that bring great sorrow to your soul. The New Testament faith is about charity out of a pure heart, and when you are filled with this Divine quality, it is going to suffer a long time. Divorce is forbidden in the Christian Life, because it violates the New Testament Commandments on love, and if people really don’t believe that, then they would have to claim that the Amish are a bunch of heretics. Everything before the Cross of Christ Jesus was Judaism, and although divorce was suffered in the law of Moses, and was even spoken about in the Gospels, it is forbidden in the Christian faith. Unlike the Commandments in Judaism (which are done away in Christ), the Lord Jesus instituted New Commandments in Christianity concerning matters of divorce.
1 Corinthians 7:10-11 (KJB) And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband: But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife.
To those who claim to love Jesus, divorcing your spouse for any reason, is to abandon the Covenant of marriage, and there is no justification for this behavior in the New Testament. It is a sin just like any other, and a violation of the will of God. Divorce only proves that somebody doesn’t love their spouse enough to patiently suffer through all of the things that they put them through. I’ve known couples who have had to suffer through many years of heartache and pain, but they eventually saw light at the end of the tunnel, and entered into a new era of their lives. They encountered a rebirth of their marriage, and were filled up with compassion, friendship, and a renewed and enduring love for each other.
Divorce is the easy way out, but on the other hand, sincere charity can be quite difficult at times, because it often entails dealing with behaviors put forth by your spouse that will bring you great anguish. When women choose to leave their husbands, how quickly they have forgotten that Jesus suffered for them when He took the nails for them on the cross for their salvation. Many of them become so deceived by the devil that they actually believe that by divorcing their spouse, they sre going to find great happiness and a wonderful life. The truth is that they are rejecting the ministry that God has appointed them to, just as Judas rejected his. Marriage is a ministry, and one of the greatest missionary fields that you will ever find is found in your own spouse.
With that in mind, the first thing that you must never do if you genuinely want to save your spouse, is not to divorce them. Putting fourth paperwork to divorce your spouse only proves that you don’t care about them at all, and is a violation of the entire Christian faith. When you abide in your marriage, you will have to learn to endure suffering in the flesh, and deal with all of the wrongs that are committed against you when they arise. But you have to remember that this is exactly what Jesus did for each one of us. He is perfect and sinless, yet suffered with all of the wrongs that this world committed against Him. Jesus never condemned and forsook this world, but instead went to the cross in order to save us all. Suffering with the wrongs that are committed against us can lead others to salvation, by bringing them to a place of Godly sorrow when they finally realize how wickedly that they have treated you. By allowing yourself to suffer, there’s a chance the people my greatly regret what they have done in the future, which will lead them to repentance and a changed life because of it. After all, this is what happened in the life of the Apostle Paul who was persecuting the disciples of Christ, and then finally recognized the evil things that he was doing to others and repented of his sins. The same thing happens to each one of us when we understand the sufferings that Jesus took because of our sins, and by whose stripes we are healed.
On the other hand, a spouse can pour out their bitter wrath and angrily run off and divorce you, but one must remember that Jesus could have called upon legions of angels to destroy this entire world, but He didn’t. Rather than pouring out His wrath upon those who certainly deserved His punishment, He abstained from vengeance instead, and showed the Divine qualities of patience, long-suffering, and mercy towards a sinful world. So you see, people who claim to be followers of Christ are supposed to be filled up with charity, and when you possess this quality you are going to allow yourself to suffer with the injustices that are committed against you. Divine charity will lay aside any type of retribution, and will choose to show mercy instead.
Remember that it is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance, and when people do wrong to you and you patiently suffer through it, they can see the goodness of Christ Jesus in you. The same thing can happen in a marriage, when your spouse puts you through turmoil and grief, but you continue to abide faithfully by their side. Because of this, they can eventually recognize the evil works that they have committed towards you, and come to a place of repentance and salvation because of it. Remember that in the story of The Prodigal Son, he finally recognized all of the evil works that he had done towards his dad, and what a good man that his dad was, which ultimately resulted in a change of heart, repentance, and reconciliation.
Would you love your child enough to suffer on a cold night, in order to cover him up with your blanket? Would you love your neighbor enough to jump into frigid icy waters in order to save him from drowning? Christians are called unto suffering, because real love is going to endure a lot. How much suffering would you allow yourself to go through, if it meant,……..
……Saving Your Spouse
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody..
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